Fine-tuning the molecular energy levels by incorporating thiophene units onto the π-backbone of core-expanded naphthalene diimides

A series of core-expanded naphthalene diimides（NDI-DTYM） and thiophene-based derivatives（1a-c）were designed and synthesized to investigate the relationship between molecular structures and the highest occupied molecular orbital（HOMO） energy levels but has little impact on the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital（LUMO） energy levels.The results demonstrated that increasing the number of thiophene units can gradually elevate the HOMO energy levels but had little impact on the LUMO energy levels.The n-channel organic field-effect transistors（OFETs） based on 1b and 1c have demonstrated that these almost unchanged LUMO energy levels are proper to transport electrons.

Measuring fine molecular structures with luminescence signal from an alternating current scanning tunneling microscope

In scanning tunneling microscopy-induced luminescence(STML),the photon count is measured to reflect single-molecule properties,e.g.,the first molecular excited state.The energy of the first excited state is typically shown by a rise of the photon count as a function of the bias voltage between the tip and the substrate.It remains a challenge to determine the precise rise position of the current due to possible experimental noise.In this work,we propose an alternating current version of STML to resolve the fine structures in the photon count measurement.The measured photon count and the current at the long-time limit show a sinusoidal oscillation.The zero-frequency component of the current shows knee points at the precise voltage as the fraction of the detuning between the molecular gap and the DC component of the bias voltage.We propose to measure the energy level with discontinuity of the first derivative of such a zero-frequency component.The current method will extend the application of STML in terms of measuring molecular properties.